Crowdfunding Q&A with James & James

We’re one week into our crowdfunding campaign and so far we have raised a total of £300,930 thanks to 141 investors. We’re so pleased with how our campaign has gone so far. We’ve collected some of the most frequently asked questions about our raise and put them to founders James Flower and James Mansfield…

Q1: There are a few recipe boxes on the market at the moment, what makes a Field & Flower box different to your competitors?
While there are many options on the market our research shows that flexibility and a wide range of products, rather than prescriptive recipes, are incredibly popular features of ours that our competitors can’t match. This is especially true of families and those who enjoy cooking their own recipes with premium ingredients. Many recipe boxes are incredibly overpriced when taking a closer look at the quantity and quality of the product that’s delivered. Our models simple, we focus on quality cuts of grass-fed meat, sustainably caught fish and British cheese at an affordable price. We believe our quality, ethics, provenance and service to be better than any recipe boxes we’ve come across at a price that offers better value for money.

Q2: Can you explain how you came to your valuation?
Being a relatively young and break-even business traditional valuation methods don’t justify the true value and potential of our business. We’re raising a minimum of £750,000 on a pre-money valuation of £12m. The valuation calculation is 4.5 times £2.7m revenue (YE 2016/17). We have used recent market examples and revenue multiples achieved by similar food businesses to arrive at our pre-money valuation. We have several market examples of similar businesses that have raised on similar or greater multiples.

Q3: How will your supply chain of British farmers cope with rapid expansion of order numbers?
From an infrastructure viewpoint we are very much set for growth. For the last nine months considerable resource has gone into developing our operational capacity. Operationally we run at approximately 22% capacity so have plenty of room for growth and to deal with peak trading times such as Christmas where we turn over 3-4 times average revenue. All of our producers and farmers meet strict UK standards (minimum Red Tractor), on top of which we regularly meet and inspect farms, producer facilities and suppliers to ensure they continue to meet our criteria as a business which is much more exacting. We will always maintain this high level of quality assurance to ensure we deliver ethical meat and a sustainable supply chain. As farmers, we look to replicate our own standards when finding new farmers to expand our supply chain.

Q4: How will I get a return on my investment?
As we will be investing all profits back into the business we have no planned dividend pay outs. The return on investment could be achieved by a liquidity event in 3 years’ time, we aim to deliver 3-4 times return on your investment. A liquidity event might be a partial trade sale or subsequent funding rounds, where historic shareholders may sell or decide to continue with the journey.

Q5: Tell me more about your investor rewards.
Where will your closing party be hosted? Here are the investor rewards:

• Pledge £200 and receive a 25% discount on your subscription boxes for one month
• For £500 you will receive a 30% discount on your subscription boxes for one month
• For investing £1,000 in us we’ll give you a 40% discount on your subscription boxes for two months, a Field & Flower jacket, as well as an invitation to our fundraising closing party (including complimentary drinks and a butchery demo and talk from the founders).
• For pledging £5,000 and above you will receive a 50% discount on your subscription boxes for three months, a Field & Flower jacket, an invitation to our closing party (including complementary drinks and a butchery demo and talk from the founders), as well as a place at our exclusive Butchery & Steak cookery class.

Our closing party will be hosted in London at the same venue we have used for many of our Meat Up events. It was hard to decide where to host our party as we have strong ties both in Somerset and London, however it was decided London would be the most suitable for the majority of investors. We do plan on holding butchery events in the Somerset/Bristol area in the near future, which investors will be made aware of.

We’re still really interested in talking to potential investors, so email us on [email protected] to schedule a call with James Flower and James Mansfield.

For more information on investing please watch our crowdfunding video, or read more on our Crowdcube page.

*Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital, please remember to #InvestAware. See Crowdcube’s terms and conditions for more information.